Firefox 4 Beta 4

Recently Mozilla released the Beta 4 version of Firefox 4.0. Like all Firefox Betas in the past it will break your add-ons, but it also adds some REALLY cool new eye-candy. The biggest additions are Panorama and Sync, but there’s also a slick new interface.

The first thing you’ll notice is the interface – specifically the toolbars. It’s not vastly different and you won’t be lost, but it’s definitely different. It’s cleaner and more modern and the tabs are in a different place. It has a very “Windows 7-ish” type of interface. I found the tabs being moved to a different location to be the toughest part to get used to. At the far right of the tabs bar you will will find options to group your tabs and also to list all of your tabs. If you work with lots of tabs, like I do, this is a great new feature. The other toolbars are all there, just as you know them, but the icons are different and fewer. That part will not slow anyone down and it really does look better.

(click picture to view full size)

The next thing you will notice is what Mozilla is calling “Panorama”. It’s essentially a Window’s 7 type view that shows all of your opens tabs when you hover over the Firefox icon in your Window’s toolbar. It sounds simple, and it is, but it is also very useful. Once you hover over the icon then you will have to choose which tab you want to click on.

(click picture to view full size)

The last big feature in version 4 is called Sync. You can actually download a Sync add-on for Firefox 3.5 and 3.6 here. It allows you to encrypt and save your settings, bookmarks, passwords, and other cuntomizations so that you can not only restore them if you change computers, but also keep them the same across multiple PC’s and mobile devices. You can set it up by clicking Tools and then Set Up Sync.

And that brings me to the add-ons. As I said, Firefox betas frequently break these, but they are normally fixed quickly. Sync is an obvious swipe at my favorite Firefox add-on, Xmarks, which has done all of this (except customizations) for a while now. I set it up, but for now I consider it a backup solution in case Xmarks has a problem. Until it’s been tested and retested I don’t want to trust my settings to it. It’s an interesting feature though, and building it in to the browser puts Mozilla at the forefront, once again, in the browser battle.

As of this writing the Firefox add-on, Xmarks, has been updated to be compatible with 4.0, but most are still not there.

(click picture to view full size)

Despite the lack of support for add-ons, which, as I said, is common in Firefox betas, this latest version is worth checking out. And, add-ons are coming quickly. The interface, with its aero-glass look, plays nicely in Windows 7. Sync is cool and Panorama makes it especially worth the download. You may not want to put it on your production machine quite yet – not because of stability issues because there aren’t any that I can see – but, because of the add-ons that you may need. If you don’t rely on those, though, then go for it.